~ rescuing my ancestors from obscurity

Julia Seager (1823 – 1908)

Julia Seager, daughter of Samuel Hurst Seager (1780 -1837) and Fanny Fowle (1781 – 1851), was christened at St Clement Danes on 6th April 1823. She was the younger sister of my great great grandmother, Fanny Sarah Seager. As with her siblings, I’ve been unable to find any trace of Julia in the 1841 census.

Julia was only 14 when her father died. Ten years later, in December 1847, she married Charles Christopher Lambert in the Strand district: possibly at St. Clement Danes? Charles was also born in 1823, in St. Marylebone.

Part of St. Pancras, from Cross's London Guide of 1851

(Click on map to open in new window, then click again to enlarge)

Their first child, also named Charles, was born in 1849 in the parish of St. Giles, while their second son, Frederick William, was born in 1850 in the St. Pancras area, probably at 27 Harrison Street, where the family would be living at the time of the following year’s census. This road ran (and still runs today) off Grays Inn Road, close to Regent Square and a little way south of Euston Road (see map above). Charles, Julia and their two children shared the building with three other families. Charles, 28, was a civil servant, working as a clerk to the Commissioners of Lunacy, an occupation he would pursue for the remainder of his working life. Julia was also 28, while their sons were aged 2 (Charles) and 6 months (Frederick).

In 1855 their daughter Julia was born and in 1860 another son, Edward Henry, arrived. The 1861 census finds the family still at the same address in Harrison Street. Charles and Julia are now 38, while Charles junior is 12, Frederick 10, Julia 6, and Edward 10 months.

So far, I’ve been unable to find the Lamberts in the 1871 census. However, by 1881 they had moved to Chetwynd Road, Kentish Town. Julia and Charles were now 57. Their son Frederick, 30, was working as a clerk: I think the entry says in a trading clearing house. Daughter Julia, 26, was also still living at home. Edward Henry was now 20 and working as a clerk to the Inland Revenue.

The Lamberts had a visitor at the time of this census: Julia’s younger brother, Edward William Seager, age 52, described as the superintendent of a lunatic asylum in New Zealand, on a visit to England. Edward’s trip is described in Madeleine Seager’s biography of him as a year’s leave of absence, commencing some time towards the end of 1880, the purpose being to visit and report on various asylums in England. One imagines he would have found plenty to discuss with his brother-in-law Charles. The book says very little about the visit – except to quote a report that Edward collected ‘considerable information on the domestic economy existing in the numerous asylums he had the means of visiting’ – so we don’t know if he remained with the Lamberts for the whole of his stay. Edward returned to his duties at Sunnyside Asylum in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 1st November 1881.

Charles Lambert junior is the only member of the family not present at the time of the 1881 census. I haven’t been able to find him elsewhere, nor is there any obvious record of a marriage, though there’s a suggestion that he might have emigrated to New Zealand at some point.

Kentish Town in the late 19th century

In 1886 Frederick William Lambert, 36, now described as a mercantile clerk, married Kate Theodosia Sloper, 22, who was born in Wokingham, Berkshire, the daughter of solicitor John William Sloper. The ceremony took place at St. Anthony’s, Nunhead. Their daughter Eleanor was born in 1879 in Clapham and in 1891 they were living in Tottenham, with Kate’s unmarried sister, Mary, a governess. A second daughter, Kate Theodisia, was born at the same address in 1894 and baptised at St Michael’s, Wood Green.

I don’t know what became of Eleanor, but in 1916 Kate Theodosia married someone who looks like he might have been a relative: rifleman Arthur James Sloper, son of stained glass artist Charles Johnson Sloper. Kate’s father Frederick William had died in the previous year.

At the time of the 1891 census, Charles and Julia Lambert, 67, were still living in Chetwynd Road, but Charles had now retired. Still living with them are son Edward, 30, a civil service clerk, and daughter Julia, 36, a music teacher.

Charles Lambert died in 1899 at the age of 75. In 1901 Julia was still at the house in Chetwynd Road with son Edward and daughter Julia, neither of whom seems to have married. She died in 1908, at the age of 78. It’s possible that her daughter Julia died in 1932, at the age of 78, but I’m not sure what became of Edward Henry.